JSngry

Charles (underrated), not Joanne (overrated, as far as all that goes). Exactly.

Joe Fields kept the records coming, RIP for that if nothing else!

Jordan's "best" record ever, imo. People love them some Glass Bead Games, but that one's always seemed a little "reigned in" to me. Not this one.

Do they size small? I'm down to a 2X if they're sized generously, but if not, a 3x will do. Hell, it'll do anyway. I like my tees loose, but not sloppy. Please tease the tees whenever you please, please. I'm in.

I'll buy damn near any Basie record if Lockjaw's on it. That motherfucker will be Lockjaw no matter what, and not even pretend to give a damn whether you like it or not. I mean, c'mon Jaws, don't be so mean! Or hell, let the man play. You know he's going to anyway.

How big up are those t-shirts gonna fit?

If anybody is lacking on Strata-East "Dolphy Series" issues and wants to remedy that, this set is a must. And even if you're not, it's got the Wilbur Ware session that was only released by The Bass Institute Of Chicago (everybody snapped that one up, right?) as well as one altogether unreleased session that is good enough. I had all but the unreleased session, but I bought the set because, to reiterate, I'll never not buy from Mosaic, no matter how hinky their workflow becomes. But yeah, the transfers trump a lot of the LPs by a good shot.

Any update on the Goodman?

It's ok one song at a time, but my experience with the Chico O'Farrill albums is that unless Lockjaw's on board, don't bother to bother. He's not on that one. Jacquet is, but other than "curiosity value", that's not enough. It's The Swing Machine at it's most machine-iest, pretty numbing, the longer it plays, the number it gets. If you get pissed of at things like that (and I can) this one will piss you off. I found it in a cutout bin when I was first getting into jazz, within the first year or two, and got excited because of Jacquet being there, so hope were high, but hopes were soon dashed. Still, if you have a collector's curiosity, it's worth a buck of two for that. I got all kinds of shit like that, and will no doubt get a lot more as time goes by. But really.... What is on CD, and what is kind of a sleeper for some folks, maybe, are the two Dot sides that Basie & The Mills Brothers did together...not consistently awesome, but enough good things happen that yeah, you might want to consider that if not yet aware. And yes, Lockjaw IS on those.

Last I looked, this was still on the Mosaic Last Gasp list. I bought it on a whim, and the first listen or two was not overwhelming, but still, nice enough to throw it in the car, where it has been playing for the last two weeks. It's one of those records that you can use as background lifestyle music and/or rewarding detail music. Jack Wilson is a real treat here, especially in his comps on the quartet sides (which have some really sweet Curtis Amy). Roy Ayers himself is playing at a very high level, perhaps the very highest level, of generic, which means that everything fits and is played right better than those who would aspire to his level. In other words, no surprises, but no AAARGHs either. And again, Curtis Amy is sweeeeet. At first I had kind of a beef with the drummers, but I got over it once the bigger group picture came into focus - and that's what I'm finding most appealing over the long haul, the group playing. It really gels. If these weren't working bands, they easily could have been. Throw in two Vi Redd bonus cuts (with Carmel Jones), and carpe diem. It's one of those albums you can easily live without, but once it sinks in, you'll be happy you won't have to.

Really, I get their emails. I've yet to get one that says, hey, your support has been overwhelming, we thank you for that, our staff is a little overloaded right now, please bear with us, and if we inadvertently have let something slip through the cracks, let us know ASAP, here's our phone #. And then answer it. I twice tired to call during their stated "normal business hours" and twice got routed to voice mail that said to call back during normal business hours. That's a fucking joke! I mean, I get it, sleepy little cottage industry/specialty business and all that, but goddamn it, you all asked for this to be Show Time. You asked to be woke up and rolled out of bed. If you weren't ready to go to work (or to be on the lake before sunrise), don't ask for the gig. Jesus. Stay in bed, we're all used to that and it's ok. I'll never not buy from them, but I got a right to grumble. Any updates on the Goodman?

Yeah, it's that "until recently" part that has me thinking that either A) they're in a really extreme bubble and only deal with the outside world when it comes into theirs, or B)they really are looking to liquidate inventory and pull back to a much more limited business once they do. Shipping can take time, I get htat, and if you don't want to expand staffing for a special project, even on a per-day basis, I get that. But to be erratic with your notifications (which is the essential tool for setting and managing customer expectations, and therefore satisfaction), you either don't get it or else you don't care, you're just riding it out. Point just being, whether or not that's their intent, my message received from all of this is that they're just looking to get out once they sell as much as they can. Whether or not that's the message they mean to send, I don't know. Either way, I think it's goofy as hell put it out there that people need to buy as much as possible NOW, and then get "overwhelmed" when they do just that.

If you're listening in a car, I don't think that audio benchmarking is worth the time, keep you eyes on the road, jsut crank it up and drive the car, let it go at that, quit while you're ahead/before you wreck yourself up,but there will probably be a time or two when a still new-ish tape might have more presence in a car than on early hollow CD. But tape does deteriorate. My cars have always been older, so I went for the car adapter to play my CDs and iPod through the car's cassette system. That should tell you how picky I am about audio quality in a car. Hell, if I had a car with an 8-Track, I'd still go with that, if I had any 8-Tracks left that still played, and I don't think I do. Anybody want to come over with a car that has a plyer, do so, we can drive, I got everything from The Golden Flute to Ella/Nat Capitol Christmas things to On The Corner. I'm not eclectic, I'm jsut fucking indiscriminate.

What about The Happiest Millionaire? Half A Sixpence (with Illinois Jacquet, btw)? The album with Jackie Wilson, Manufacturers Of Soul (still not convinced that's really Basie's band, but who knows? How About This with Kay Starr (better than feared, not as good as hoped for?

Ok, definitely not Golson, never mind. But somebody's listened to a LOT of Jug. And to their credit they didn't try to match the bigness of his sound, but went for the concurrent lightness within it.

Everything's around if you know where to look and don't mind going there. But seriously...some of those name-brand labels used good tape and sounded good enough back in the day, especially if you didn't do any rewinding on them and cleaned your heads regular (and regularly) and so forth. I still have a lot of cassettes, especially of gospel music. It was going to be my co-to medium because so many of the early CDs were, like, empty sounding POSs, like, WHOA, no scratches! and I was like, WHOA no body to that "sound". But then it all worked out. Still, I kept my cassettes and still hold out hope of getting the scarcer ones of them onto CD some day when I have a few months free and am too unfocused to do anything else. But if anybody wants to come over and hang until it gets done (i.e. - do it for me), I'll by you a 40 and a Party Size bag of the Doritos of your choice. Non-negotiable, btw. I ain't in THAT big of a hurry.

Yes, I was, and wow, that explains why I thought it interesting that Don Byas had acquired some kind of Gene Ammons influence! Benny Golson, maybe? Or, what European player was working in that style? It's not consistently Jug-ish, but there are several touches that speak out.

Ever had to tell a parent that they can't drive anymore, it's just not safe, that they're better off letting you drive them and you'll be happy to do that?

That club date recording is wonderful!

Shortly...

Does that price include the boxes?

Hey, I love Mosaic, I'm a lifer (at least until the Goodman comes back!), and I toally get the cutting them slack because _____ but... Just as I wanted nothing to do with the Four Freshman set, I don't want anything to do with the Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, of Eddie Condon sets (although for those, it's just a matter of I don't want that much more of artists I already enjoy, and the the FF, it was strictly a matter of FUCK The Four Freshmen, ok). OTOH, the more Cuscuna-centric product has gotten my fullest-ish support. Dial/Savoy/Beehive, not needed, but Braxton, Threadgill, Jordan, etc, hell yeah, Just because. Business realities change, have change, continue to change. Thier market is shrinking, the EeeYew PD Musiporn sets are just stupid mad ubiquitous, and, you know, physical product, so yeah, they're old, we're3 old, but still adapt or die, as they say, and if you're ok with dying, that brings us to our next point: Why in GOD'S name do you put it out there that OMG, we're about to drown, and then get caught apparently totally off-guard when the people you know want your shit actually come and get it because, you know, if you say you're drowning, hell I'm gonna believe you. You get 1000 life preservers thrown at you,at least pick one, right? Don't go swimming around yelling for help, take the help and do something with it, don't just flail around in the water, get to the boat, get pulled in and then jump right back in the water, ok? Especially on the assumption that all those other life preservers will still be there waiting for you for as often as you jump. I mean, I know life is not that simple when real people are involved, but, you know, be careful what you ask for and all that. This great country of ours was and is still built on cheap and/or free labor, so, c'mon. Hire some parolees for a day or two a week. Pretty sure it's deductible if you do it right. So - any word about the Goodman?